No job without medical examination in Kazakhstan

Medical examination has been proposed as a necessary condition for employment in Kazakhstan. The requirenent may come in as an amendment to the Code On People’s Health and Healthcare System of Kazakhstan, Tengrinews reports citing Nadezhda Petukhova, member of the Majilis (lower chamber of the Parliament of Kazakhstan).

"There is an amendment to the Code On People’s Health and Healthcare System of Kazakhstan has been amended. It says that an employer has no right to hire a person who has not undergone a medical examination before applying for the job. And then employers must make sure that all employees annually receive a baseline medical examination," Petukhova told Tengrinews on the sidelines of the joint meeting of Nur Otan Party and theMajilis Committee for Socio-Cultural Development.

Implementation of the Development Programme for cancer care in 2012-2016 was another topic discussed during the session. Kuanysh Nurgaziyev, director of the Institute of Radiology and Oncology of Almaty, delivered a report and called to find a way to motivate people to pass health checks and screenings.

"The president has repeatedly pointed out that the population must be motivated. For example, if a man in Austria has not taken a colonoscopy test in 50 years, all of his bank cards will be blocked. In South Korea, if a person who took the baseline medical check got ill but, the state pays 70 percent of the treatment expenses and the person pays the remaining 30 percent. But if the person did not take the baseline medical test and got sick, then the pay 100 percent of the treatment costs himself. This is the kind of motivation for people to take the test. Our state allocates the money for the tests but people do not go take them. There must be joint responsibility," Nurgaziyev said.

The draft law containing the aforementioned amendment is now in the Majilis.